}Mitch Hooke has been Chief Executive of the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) since April 2002.[1] Since June 2011 Hooke has also been a member of the Board of Directors of GTL Energy, a company aiming to commercialise brown coal drying technology.[2]

Another biographical note, as of Septemver 2011, stated that Hooke was "a member of the Full Council of the London based International Council of Mining and Metals (ICMM), its Executive Working Group, Chair of its International Associations Group (40 national and international mining/minerals associations), and Chair of its International Trade Policy Group. In business, Mr Hooke serves a member of the Advisory Board, Americas, of the global consultancy, Partners in Performance, was a Director of Elgin National Industries (USA), and of its subsidiary, Roberts & Schaefer, Australia (2008–2010). He holds a Bachelor of Rural Science and an Honours Thesis in agricultural industrial policy from the University of New England in Armidale, NSW, Australia, and was last year awarded that University’s Distinguished Alumni Award, 2010."[2]

Coal Booster

Hooke has been one of the leading lobbyists against the Australian government committing to substantial cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. On March 17th 2009 Hooke spoke on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Radio National arguing against the proposition that “Green jobs” will strengthen our economy. This proposition directly contradicts Hooke’s argument that increasing the share of renewable energy will cost jobs, a claim he has vigorously pushed through his public retaliations. During this debate Hooke claimed that most of Germany’s electricity is imported from France.[3] However, an investigation of Germany’s energy profile shows that Germany has remained a net exporter of electricity while the share of renewables in Germany’s electricity has grown.[4]